Greene goes through pain barrier for piece of history

Olympic champion Maurice Greene took 40 confident strides and five painful ones towards a special place in the history of sprinting on Sunday with his third consecutive 100 metres world title.

After an almost perfect display of pace and power down the track, the world record holder hurt a hamstring in his left leg in the final strides of the race in a last effort to hold off chasing compatriot Tim Montgomery.

The 27-year-old world record holder crossed the line, grimacing with pain and hobbled to a standstill.

Greene became only the second male sprinter to win three consecutive world 100 titles after Carl Lewis and clocked the third fastest time in history of 9.82 seconds.

But the victory came at a price. He was only able to walk his victory lap around the track and any thoughts of sprinting along it in the next week are now in doubt.

Greene was still limping badly an hour after the race. He has now pulled out of the 200 metres at the championships and his participation in the 4x100 metres relay is also in doubt.

But the American said he was determined to push himself through the pain barrier to win.

"Fifteen metres out I felt a pinch in my quad (thigh). I said: 'This is not going to stop me'."

"After that I felt something in the hamstring and I thought: 'I am not going to let that stop me either.' When I am in a race like that I practically have to kill myself before I stop.

"When you want something so bad you have to fight to get it...I believe every athlete has something wrong in the final. You have had three hard races before. Every athlete has to put their body on the line."

Asked about the relay, he said: "If I am not 100 percent I am not going to jeopardise the U.S. relay and let my ego get in the way. I have to see how my body is."

PERSPECTIVE

Greene may have matched Lewis's three titles but his achievement has to be put into historical perspective because of changes to the championships since 1993.

Lewis won his three world titles over an eight-year period between 1983 and 1991 when the event was held every four years. Greene has dominated the event for just four years after triumphs in Athens in 1997 and Seville in 1999 in the new biennial format introduced from the Stuttgart championships eight years ago.

But he said: "Carl Lewis is a great athlete. For me to equal something that he has done is good for me. I want to be known as the greatest 100 metres runner ever. Maybe now my name will be mentioned with Carl Lewis."

Greene's time, however, was astonishing, bearing in mind the injury problem and a slight head wind. Five of the finalists dipped under 10 seconds. Montgomery clocked 9.85 in second place with fellow American Bernard Williams completing a U.S. medal sweep in third in a time of 9.94.

Trinidad's Ato Boldon clocked 9.98 in fourth, just ahead of Britain's Dwain Chambers with 9.99.

In that sense, the race was comparable with Lewis's third victory in Tokyo in 1991 when six of the sprinters went under 10 seconds. Lewis needed a final burst to snatch that race, however, while Greene looked in control throughout, even with the injury.

The American is the only man to have run faster than 9.82, clocking 9.80 in Seville and 9.79 for his world record at a grand prix meeting in Athens at the start of the 1999 season.

Greene said he felt he could have broken the world record in Edmonton without the injury problems.

"I believe I could have run 9.77 but that is only speculation," he said.

"It was great to have an American sweep," added Greene. "Today we have accomplished the goal of putting the U.S. sprinters back on top."